


Stop Carrying Out Your Intentions and Watch for my Signals.

by imaginarycircus



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Pining, So Married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-29
Updated: 2011-06-29
Packaged: 2017-10-20 20:44:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/216919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginarycircus/pseuds/imaginarycircus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny really isn't very good at reading signals or sending them. Basically he hasn't a clue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stop Carrying Out Your Intentions and Watch for my Signals.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DarlingLisa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarlingLisa/gifts).



> Very grateful to stellarmeadow, alamo_girl80, and sunhawk who all beta read this for me.
> 
> means "Stop carrying out your intentions and watch for my signals." But I couldn't make an image the title of the story.
> 
> This was written for the helpthesouth auction for Raggedy_Edge.

Steve knows several languages, Morse code, semaphore, American Sign Language, and some basic cryptography, but he’s not sure he’s reading Danny correctly. Danny is always touching him, poking fun at him, and there, he just ate something off Steve’s plate.

“Did you just eat off my plate? You want to know why people think we’re married? That’s why.” Steve gestures at his plate.

“What? Were you going to eat that? You never eat the bacon. I don’t know why you order that breakfast special. It comes with bacon, but you never eat it.”

“I just like to smell it,” Steve says, fully aware that that sounds a little nutty.

Danny makes a considering face and then says, “Bacon does smell great. I got this.” He plunks down enough to cover the check and the tip. They wave good-bye to Cheryl, who is almost always their waitress.

Steve follows Danny out to the car in the small parking lot, and the way Danny moves—it’s like a ballet. He could have been a dancer. Sometimes when certain songs come on the radio, Steve wonders what it would be like to hold Danny close and sway in a tight little fox trot cocoon. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone, least of all to Danny, who would never ever let it go.

“Hey. What’s the matter with you?” Danny says. Steve realizes they are both standing on the passenger side of the car, because Steve followed Danny there without paying any attention.

To cover up his mistake he hands Danny the keys and smiles. Danny’s eyes flick from Steve’s face to the keys and back several times. Danny licks his lips.

And if Danny were a woman, Steve would be certain that he does not have his signals crossed, but Danny is a dude. So he isn’t sure, not because he hasn’t gotten hit on by dudes before, he totally has. But this is Danny. He needs to be absolutely sure before he does or says anything that could ruin the best friendship he’s ever had.

“Uh. Thought you’d like to drive for a change?” Steve says, and, yeah, it doesn’t sound very convincing.

“You feeling all right?” Danny plants his palm on Steve’s forehead and says, “No. No fever.”

Steve is transfixed by the laugh lines around Danny’s eyes, as he squints up at him. He wants to reach out and run his fingers lightly down the side of Danny’s face; imagines Danny leaning into his touch, like a cat.

“Ground Control to Major Tom?” Danny snaps his fingers.

“What? I’m fine. If you don’t want to drive…” Steve reaches out for the keys.

“No.” Danny hurries around to the driver’s side of the car, the sun glinting off his hair.

Steve gets into the car and knows he has three options. He can just go for it and see how Danny reacts. He can ask Danny if he’s reading the signals right, or he can just ignore what he’s feeling. Though that third option is getting more difficult all the time. The second option is lame. So, the first option is really his only option, but he has to choose the right moment.

“… so you better sign those requisitions today or else we’re going to run out,” Danny is saying as they turn into the parking lot outside headquarters.

Steve has always been more a man of action than a man of words, but this isn’t the right time or place.

“Right. Consider them signed,” he says. How many requisitions can Danny have left on his desk? He’ll just sign them all.

The rest of the day drags along slow, slow, slow like the last bit of molasses clinging to the inside of the jar. When they are brainstorming around the conference table Danny does this thing with his tongue that drives Steve to distraction. He sticks the pink tip out of the corner of his mouth. He can’t think about anything except how he’d like to run his thumb along Danny’s lower lip, across the tip of his wet tongue; imagines Danny sucking his thumb into his mouth, flicking his eyes up at Steve’s and then dropping them closed in pleasure.

It’s been two hours since the meeting and Danny’s mouth all Steve can think about.

“Steve? Earth to Steve?” Kono says and Steve looks up from his desk and scoots himself as close to it as possible so that she can’t see the tent of his cargo pants.

“Sorry. Lost in thought. What do you need?”

“I’m going over to the lab to see what CSU turned up and then I’ll probably head home, if you don’t need me for anything else?”

“No, that’s fine. See you tomorrow.”

Steve signs all the requisitions on his desk and brings them to Danny’s office. Danny flips through them and looks up at Steve, like he’s suddenly sprouted a conjoined twin.

“Did you even read these? You signed Kono’s requisition for a grenade launcher. That was a joke, I sincerely hope.”

“Right,” Steve says. He snatches the paper back and tears it up.

“So. Want to get a beer? Or come by my place and drink my beer?” He is desperately trying to sound casual and not just casually desperate.

Danny looks up at him and Steve can’t make out the amusement in his expression, doesn’t know what it means until Danny says, “You mean the beer I brought you two days ago?”

“Right. Yeah. That beer.” He is so off his game today. Thoughts of Danny are addling his brains.

“I need to watch a documentary on panda bears at seven though.”

Steve frowns. Is that a joke? He doesn’t get it.

“It’s for Grace. She asked me to watch it so I could read her report for school. Do you get Animal Planet?”

Steve nods. The only reason he knows is because Danny mentioned it the first day they met. He had no idea what it was. Google set him straight and then he watched a few programs about dolphins one rainy Sunday.

Two hours later they’re sitting on Steve’s couch, beers in hands, empty takeout containers from the Indian place littering the coffee table, and they’re watching a male panda mount a female panda.

The narrator says, “Sexual intercourse lasts anywhere from thirty seconds to five minutes…”

“Sheesh. It doesn’t look like she’s enjoying it,” Danny says.

Steve nods, but he can’t help but think about mounting Danny from behind like that and all his resolve to keep his hands to himself simply cracks. His hand snakes out and latches onto Danny’s arm and then Steve freezes. Because really? Panda humping is his big move?

“What? Did you hear something with your freakish bat-like hearing?” Danny mutes the TV and listens hard, but there’s nothing but the normal sounds of wind and surf.

Shit, Steve thinks. Shit. He blew it. He froze up and now it’s too late.

“Must have been my imagination,” he says and lets go of Danny’s arm.

“So, do you want to, like, sweep the perimeter, or whatever?”

“Um. I’m good,” Steve says.

They finish the beer and the documentary, which was very informative. Danny is sitting close to him, much closer than he needs to on a couch that could easily seat four friendly people. Is it another signal? Did he miss his chance? Maybe panda humping was the right moment?

Danny sighs, gets up abruptly, collects the empties and the food containers and carries them into the kitchen. Steve pads behind him feeling the grit on sand on the floor. He should sweep later or tomorrow.

“You don’t have to do that,” Steve says as he watches Danny rinse the bottles and the black plastic containers and then stow them all in the recycling bin. Steve can see Danny’s reflection in the window over the sink. He looks tired, but at ease, at home and it pulls at something in Steve’s chest.

“Done.” Danny dries off his hands and picks up his keys off the table.

Steve follows him to the door with his hands shoved into his pockets to force him to keep them to himself.

“See you in the morning. Pick you up about 8:30?” Danny swipes his thumb across his lower lip.

Fuck it. It’s now or never. Steve grabs Danny’s face, not ungently, and presses his lips to Danny’s. Danny doesn’t react, but doesn’t push Steve away so Steve presses a little more firmly and flicks his tongue against Danny’s mouth to get him to respond, to open up. He tastes like beer and tiki masala.

Then Danny is moving, struggling. He shoves Steve away. He looks bewildered and he smoothes his hair back as if Steve had rumpled it.

“What the hell was that? Did you actually just kiss me?”

Steve deflates. “Sorry,” he says.

“Sorry? Are you apologizing? For kissing me? What the hell?” Danny’s face is turning rocket re-entry red.

“Sorry, I thought you wanted—“ Steve’s brain buzzes with panic.

“Well, you thought wrong, my friend. What on earth ever gave you that idea? I really want to know what I did that made you think that, huh.”

“I don’t know. I made a mistake. I’m sorry.” Steve wants to hide in a fifth of scotch and never come out.

“I should think so. Now am I picking you up in the morning, or not?” Danny is standing with his hands on his hips.

“No, I can drive.” Steve turns and walks away. He can’t bear to look at Danny and his shocked anger for another moment.

Steve doesn’t sleep at all that night, but the one good thing about Danny’s bad reaction is that it kills the daydreaming and the lust. It all feels ruined now and Steve wishes there were a pill he could take, or a surgical procedure that could remove his feelings for Danny. He’s beyond mortified. He’s ruined everything. Danny will probably go back to HPD, but maybe Steve can convince him to stay if he lets him partner with Chin or Kono.

When Steve gets to work late the next morning Chin is the only one there.

“Howzit?” Chin does a double take as he pours himself a cup of coffee. “You look green around the gills, brah. Maybe you got what Danny has.”

“Danny’s here?” Steve glances towards Danny’s dark office.

“No, he called in.”

Steve debates whether or not to call Danny. In the end he sends a text that says, “Sorry. Won’t happen again. Please be in tomorrow.”

\-- He doesn’t get a text back and when they get called out towards the end of the day it’s a disaster. Steve gets shot in the leg. It’s only slightly worse than a graze on his calf. He needs stitches is all, and the pain killers, thankfully, send him into a deep sleep that night.

Steve is walking stiffly the next morning and Kono is recounting the entire clusterfuck for Danny.

“How’s your leg?” Kono says.

Steve doesn’t take his eyes off Danny’s face, because if Danny snubs him now, or is cold that’s it. It’s all done. He says, “It’s fine.”

“SuperSeal doesn’t feel pain like us mere mortals,” Danny flaps a hand at Steve. “I’m surprised he let you take him to the hospital. Can’t you just heal yourself with the power of your brain, or your tattoos or something?”

Steve raises an eyebrow and shrugs. He doesn’t permit himself to smile in relief until he is alone in his office. Danny isn’t holding the kiss against him. Steve sits down at his desk and happily answers email queries he’s been putting off for a week, until Danny sticks his head in Steve’s office.

“Come on. We’ve got a person of interest in the Grimes case. Chop chop, Gimpy.” Danny leads the way out to the Camaro and doesn’t offer Steve the keys.

Steve gets into the passenger seat and says, “I won’t bring it up again, but I just want to say that I’m sorry. I thought—well, it doesn’t matter. Are we OK?”

“Yeah, sure,” Danny says a bit too breezily, but Steve takes Danny’s words at face value and nods. OK. They are OK, or they will be. What he needs to do is move on, or at least try to.

*

Danny asks Chin out for a beer because he hasn’t had a beer with anyone since Steve tried to kiss him six days ago and he still doesn’t know what to do with that. He’s flattered, sure, but he doesn’t really think about guys that way. Danny wants to run the whole episode by Chin though, because one thing is bugging him. Steve said he thought Danny wanted it, wanted to be kissed, and Danny can’t figure out why. What on earth gave Steve that idea? Danny quickly thinks up a way to talk about it, like he’s talking about someone else and not Steve. He doesn’t want to embarrass Steve.

“So,” Danny says. “You know, Lila-over at HPD? I think she wants me to ask her out, but I’m not sure.”

“Is she sending you signals?” Chin says.

“What signals?” Danny is genuinely at a loss.

“Brah, how did you ever get married? How did you meet your wife?”

“She rear-ended me with her car,” Danny says and takes a sip of his beer.

“Yeah, but she must have given you other signs too, right?”

Danny shakes his head and waits for Chin to elaborate.

“See that woman in the blue dress?” Chin makes the slightest of motions with his beer bottle towards a pretty woman on the other side of the bar sitting next to a man whose back is to them. “Watch. See how she keeps running her hand through her hair? And then touching his arm? And how she leans toward him when he talks. She’s sending him all the signals that she likes him, that she’s interested. Oh. Did you see that? She just took a sip of his drink. That’s always a dead giveaway.”

“Huh?” Danny feels stunned because it took Rachel hitting him with a car, and his first girlfriend spilled hydrochloric acid on his shoe to get his attention and maybe he’s just a little bit illiterate when it comes to reading signals of attraction. But worse than that—he must have been sending those kinds of signals to Steve and he had no clue. He’s always running his hands through his hair, but he also has a habit of touching Steve, and teasing him.

He ate bacon off his plate. Oh God. He owes Steve an apology.

The man across the bar turns and orders two more beers and Danny realizes with extreme shock that it is Steve. The pretty woman in blue is flirting with Steve, who is smiling brightly at her and Danny’s stomach twists up hot and tight.

“Did you know he was going to be here?” Danny snaps at Chin.

Chin looks over where Danny is glaring and shakes his head.

“What is going on with you two, brah?”

“I don’t know,” Danny runs his hand through his hair. “I forgot to tell him something earlier. I’ll be right back.”

Chin nods, but his raised eyebrow clearly indicates that he knows Danny is lying. Danny can’t seem to stop himself from marching across the bar and tapping Steve on the shoulder.

“S’up?” Steve is loose and easy, which means he’s had more than a few drinks and Danny yanks him off his stool and says to the woman, “He’ll be back in just a sec. Excuse us. Official police business.”

He drags Steve over toward the men’s room and his mouth hasn’t caught up with his body and he doesn’t know what to say so he says, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“What?” Steve wrenches his arm away and his mouth gets all tight and flat.

“A few days ago you were kissing me and now you’re out with some woman you probably don’t even know and—“

“Hold up,” Steve says. “Didn’t you say you weren’t interested?”

Danny mumbles that he did.

“Sorry. What’s that? Can’t hear you? It’s kind of loud in here.” Steve crosses his arms.

“Yes. All right. Yes. I said I wasn’t interested. But I was wrong. And I really can’t stand seeing you with someone else so please tell that woman it was nice to meet her, but you’re taken. OK?”

“Oh, I’m taken? Am I?” Steve steps up very close to Danny.

“Damn straight.” Danny reaches up and brushes his lips across Steve’s and Steve only resists for a moment and then melts down into the kiss. Danny’s stomach finally relaxes and he feels like he can breathe again, breathe in all of Steve.

“I’m sorry,” Danny says between kisses. “You were right. I sent you all the signals. I just didn’t know I was doing it. I’m a moron.”

“I forgive you so long as you keep kissing me,” Steve says into Danny’s neck.

Steve’s phone buzzes in his pocket. He takes it out, grins, and tips the screen so Danny can see the text from Chin.

“Bought Melissa drink. Told her you had work emergency. Use back exit.”

Steve tows Danny’s toward the back door and says, “My place. Twenty minutes.”

Danny goes to his car and takes him a few deep breaths before he can start the Camaro without his hands trembling so hard. This is crazy. How can he have had a thing for Steve all this time and not know it? And Steve is a guy, but it felt so good to kiss him this time and Danny sure as hell doesn’t want Steve out kissing anyone else. So, yeah. He’s taken. Steve belongs to him.

He parks in Steve’s driveway, but Steve isn’t there yet, so Danny lets himself into the house and gets a beer out of the fridge because he is jittery and he can’t just stand there in Steve’s kitchen waiting for him to come home and… and… whatever they’re going to do. Danny closes his eyes and imagines Steve on his knees and it’s amazing. Why hasn’t he thought about it before?

Steve comes striding in with a bag from a pharmacy and Danny dry swallows because he can see the logo on the box of condoms through the white plastic.

“I just wanted to be prepared,” Steve says when he sees the look on Danny’s face. “We don’t have to.” He takes Danny’s beer and sets it down and then takes Danny’s face gently in his hands and says, “We can do whatever you want. Move as slowly as you need to.”

“It’s not like I’ve never done this before.” Danny’s voice is a raspy whisper.

“With a guy?” Steve grips the counter on either side of Danny, hemming him in and presses up against him.

Danny gulps and shakes his head.

Steve strips Danny of his tie and unbuttons the top buttons on his shirt and kisses from his collarbone to just under Danny’s ear. “What do you want? Just tell me what you want, Danny.”

“I want—“ Steve cuts him off with a kiss that goes on so long Danny forgets he was going to say anything.

“What do you want?” Steve goes back to trailing kisses down Danny’s neck and unbuttons more buttons so he can get at Danny’s shoulders.

“You. On your knees.” Danny’s voice is getting more and more hoarse, as if the words are drying him out. “Naked.”

He waits to see if Steve laughs at him, or says no. Steve grins and kisses Danny again and then kneels to untie his boots. He walks across the room to set them down by the door and the turns and pulls his t-shirt over his head, all slowly, teasing. Danny’s tongue feels too big for his mouth and he wants Steve so badly he feels like he could vibrate right out of his own skin.

Steve unbuttons his cargo pants and Danny follows each flick of Steve’s fingers with his mouth hanging open. He doesn’t know what to do with his hands so he grips the counter behind him tightly. Steve shucks off his pants, peels off his socks, and then drops his boxers and Danny is no longer flesh and blood. He is all white-hot electricity and sparks.

Steve walks languidly across the room. He’s hard and so painfully beautiful that Danny almost wants to look away, feels like he doesn’t deserve this. Steve takes Danny’s hands and puts them on his chest.

“You can touch me, you know.” He sounds fondly amused.

Steve’s skin, oh, his skin. It feels even better than it looks. Then Steve goes down on his knees and he undoes Danny’s pants quickly, like he’s stripping a rifle. And maybe they should have gone upstairs because Danny doesn’t know how he’s going to remain standing up once Steve has his mouth on him, but then there are no more thoughts, no more thinking, because Steve is everything. Everything is Steve’s hot, wet mouth sucking him in.

Danny has no concept of how long it takes him to come, all he knows is that it feels so good it borders on painful. He’s vaguely aware that Steve is pulling off the rest of his clothes and then it’s skin all up against skin and Steve is peppering him with kisses.

Steve is saying things. He’s wanted this for so long. He can’t believe it’s finally happening. He’ll do anything for Danny. He’ll do anything Danny wants. Danny is finally with it enough, post-orgasm haze receding, that he realizes Steve is still really fucking hard.

“What do you want?” Danny asks him and runs his thumb along Steve’s jaw. “Because right now I just want to make you feel good, babe.”

“Oh, god. Anything.” Steve closes his eyes and let’s out a shaky breath.

“No, Steve. Tell me what you want. You’ve wanted this for a long time, right? What do you want most?”

Steve hides his face in the crook of Danny’s neck for a moment and then looks up sheepishly and shakes his head. “I don’t want to push you too fast, Danny.”

“You want to fuck me?” Danny says and it’s hardly a surprise after the bag of condoms appeared. “Want your dick up my ass?”

Steve lets out a shaky laugh. “Yeah.”

“Okay. Well, let’s work up to that, but let me… come on. Upstairs. Bed. There are all kinds of things I want to try.” Danny grabs Steve by the hand and thinks he’s leaning pretty fast, learning how to read the signals. At last.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos make my day, but concrit is always welcome in the comments here or via email - circus at gmail.


End file.
